Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, May 22, 2021

Mountain View News Saturday, May 22, 2021 2Mountain View News Saturday, May 22, 2021 2
May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month – a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States that has been celebrated for decades. A rather broad term, Asian/Pacific 
encompasses all of the Asian continent and the Pacific islands of Melanesia (New Guinea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji and the Solomon Islands), Micronesia (Marianas, Guam, Wake 
Island, Palau, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia) and Polynesia (New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands, Rotuma, Midway Islands, Samoa, American Samoa, 
Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, French Polynesia and Easter Island). 

The month holds special significance this year as unimaginable hatred has been lashed out on our AAPI brothers and sisters at an increased rate of 149% in 2020-2021 over previous years. 
This year, special attention is being paid to this community who has contributed so much and is being victimized for no reason. As with all cultures in the United States, AAPI citizens 
have made remarkable contributions to our society which we need to remember not only this month, but every day. So let's take a moment to remember how important the AAPI community 
is to all of us. 


The contributions of this community have been and still are many. For instance, our current 
Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris (right) is a member of the AAPI 
community as well as being African American. Our current Congresswoman is Judy 
Chu, center right, and Tani Cantil-Sakauye , far right, the Chief Justice of the California 

Supreme Court. 

In Sierra Madre, we have the honor of having Mayor 
Rachelle Arizmendi (left) who serves as our Mayor 
(2nd Term), along with a host of other committed AAPI 
city employees. 
In a recent video (https://www.facebook.com/rachelle4sierramadre/
videos/528895645158082), Arizmendi honors 
AAPI Heritage month. 

The clip includes cameos by Sierra Madre employees: 
Larry Chu (Paramedic), Nelson Ascano (PD Officer), 
Phalann Blackwood (PD Officer), Raymond So (PD 
Detective), Sophia Kownatzki (Management Analyst) 
and SMPD Volunteer Shinji Nakagawa (PD Volunteer). Also serving the city of Sierra Madre , not in the video are (partial listing) SMPD Sgt. Chuch 
Kamchamnan, Selena Yang (Finance) and Clare Lin, Development Services. 


Let us remember that it really does "take a village" and stop the hate. Let's embrace each other as we are just one American family. 

Susan Henderson, Publisher/Editor

HERE ARE A FEW FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT HOW ASIAN AMERICAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER 
HERITAGE MONTH CAME TO BE.FROM mentalfloss.com: 

1. ASIAN AMERICAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER HERITAGE MONTH TAKES PLACE IN MAY TO MARK THE ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST JAPANESE IMMIGRANT TO THE 
UNITED STATES ... 
The earliest known Asian immigrants arrived in what’s now the United States in 1587. They sailed from the Philippines (then the Spanish East Indies) to California’s coast. Later, Filipino 
sailors settled just outside New Orleans, Louisiana, in the 18th century, creating what’s believed to be the oldest Asian American settlement in the U.S. But immigration from Asia to the 
U.S. didn't really pick up steam until the 1800s.
For the first half of the 19th century, Japan remained isolated from much of the world. That began to change on May 7, 1843, the day that a 14-year-old fisherman named Manjiro stepped 
off a whaling ship and onto U.S. soil, becoming the first Japanese person to immigrate to the country. He had previously spent five months stranded on an island with his crew after a 
terrible storm sent their fishing vessel off course. When an American whaling ship visited the island to collect some sea turtles, its captain, William Whitfield, invited Manjiro aboard. 
Whitfield later brought Manjiro home to Massachusetts, where he lived for a while before returning to Japan in 1852 as an adult. 
2. ... AND THE COMPLETION OF THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD. 
The completion of the United States’s transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869 connected the nation in a way that would forever change its fortunes. But this dream of cross-country 
travel would have never been realized without the effort of Chinese laborers, who were paid meager sums to work six days a week on the railroad's construction from 1864 to 1869. It's 
said that anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 Chinese immigrants contributed to the project by laying down tracks and blasting tunnels from Sacramento, California, to Promontory, Utah, 
where the Union Pacific met the Central Pacific Railroad. The hazards of the job, including tunneling explosions, avalanches, and rock slides, led to the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, 
of Chinese workers. 

3. THE ROAD TO AAPI HERITAGE MONTH BEGAN WITH AAPI HERITAGE WEEK, SIGNED INTO LAW BY PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER.
On October 5, 1978, Carter signed House Joint Resolution 1007 that called for a week to celebrate Asian/Pacific American Heritage to begin the following May. The resolution "[called] 
upon the people of the United States, especially the educational community, to observe such week with appropriate ceremonies and activities." It wasn’t until 1990 that Congress passed 
a law that mandated it last for the entire month. Finally, in 1992, Congress specified it was to be every May. 

4. AMERICA'S BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONS LED ONE FORMER CAPITOL HILL STAFFER TO PUSH FOR AN AAPI HERITAGE MONTH. 
In the 1970s, a former Capitol Hill staffer named Jeanie Jew approached Rep. Frank J. Horton, a New York Republican, and proposed establishing an AAPI heritage month. Jew—whose 
ancestor, M.Y. Lee, was a Chinese immigrant worker on the transcontinental railroad—believed that the country's Bicentennial celebrations had not adequately celebrated the contributions 
of Asian and Pacific Americans. Jew's forbear became a businessman who was killed in what Horton would later call "a time of anti-Chinese and anti-Asian sentiments." 
In 1977, there were several resolutions introduced with the goal of honoring AAPI in May, including one put forth by Senator Daniel Ken Inouye of Hawaii; none passed. Then, in 1978, 
Horton and Democratic Rep. Norman Mineta of California co-sponsored a bill to designate "Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week" in May, which was signed by President Carter. It 
wasn't until 1992 that Horton was able to introduce legislation, which President George H.W. Bush signed into law, making May of each year AAPI Heritage Month. The act stated that 
"Asian and Pacific Americans have contributed significantly to the development of the arts, sciences, government, military, commerce, and education in the United States." 

5. THE ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN HERITAGE FESTIVAL TAKES PLACE EACH YEAR DURING AAPI HERITAGE MONTH. 
For 42 years, the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans has hosted a festival in celebration of AAPI Heritage Month. In a typical year, the event, which takes place in New York City's 
Chinatown, includes food, art, and musical performances highlighting AAPI culture in its many forms. Throughout May 2021, the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans will be hosting 

virtual events through EventHub. 

Illinois, Richard Blumenthal, 
Conneticut, VP Kamala Harris, Rep Judy Chu, California Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii. and one unidentified official. Photo courtesy Nick Niedzwiadek 


6. PBS IS HIGHLIGHT-
ING AAPI STORIES THIS 
MONTH THROUGH NEW 
PROGRAMS THAT YOU CAN 
STREAM FOR FREE. 
Among the 10 new PBS pro-
grams premiering during AAPI 
Heritage Month include Amy 
Tan: Unintended Memoir, about 
the life and literary career of The 
Joy Luck Club author; and The 
Donut King, about how Cambo-
dian refugee Ted Ngoy created 
his ultra-successful doughnut 
business on the West Coast. Also 
available to watch online is Asian 
Americans, PBS’s five-part docu-
series that gives an overview of 
America’s Asian communities 
from the first immigrants in the 
19th century right up to today. 
"Silence is complicity. 
And we cannot be com-
plicit. We have to speak 
out. We have to act.",
President Joe Biden at the 
signing of the COVID-19 
Hate Crimes Act. 
In attendance, from left to right: 
Senator Tammy Duckworth, 
Walter Cailleteau, DVM Free Exam! 
927 N. Michillinda Ave. For New Clients 
Pasadena, CA 91107 Bring this coupon to save! 
(626) 351-8863 


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